MikeJacobs
Guest
OK, I hear you - you need a suggestion. IMO, high pressure, but I think the answer to this one is for you to LOOK at the tanks. A high pressure steel will be more expensive but smaller & lighter - that's the trade off as far as I know.
You may be getting confused thinking that an 80 steel hi-pressure holds more air than an 80 at 3,000 psi... nope- 80 cubic feet is 80 cubic feet.
I really, REALLY like Seaangel's suggestion about the 100 rather than the 120, if you're thinking about the PST series e's. The 100 is huge compared to my PST/e 80, so the 120 must be a monster.
If I were making this decision for you, I'd first consider your budget. Do you want to spend $250-$300 on a tank? That's the price range for the PST/e series 80, 100 or 120.
If you could, next I'd consider how much bottom time you get from what you're diving with now... do you come up because you're out of air, or do you come up because you are out of bottom time?
If you have air left, and are coming up because you are out of bottom time, then I hate to throw this in but you may get more bang for the buck out of nitrox certification (if you haven't already).
If you suck air (nothing wrong with that, btw, since many men have large lung capacity), and can handle a really heavy tank, then the 100 or 120 would bring you much more satisfaction, AND you'd be able to dive with Jenny lol.
Finally, FWIW/IMHO/YMMMV; if I were going with a 120 I'd go with the smallest, lightest I could find - money would be the lesser of my concerns. I've developed a nasty case of tendonitis from slinging alu 80s for a couple of months and it took months to heal. I've also seen a huge steel 120 slip out on a rocky boat and man did that give us all a start! So, give me high pressure steel at any cost lol...
